The present invention relates generally to an automotive seat assembly and more particularly to an automotive seat assembly with a trigger mechanism for actuating impact response devices within the seat.
Automotive design is guided by a never-ending goal of improving the safety and comfort of passengers traveling within the vehicles. As the nature of existing vehicular travel precludes the ability to completely eliminate incidents of collision during operation, automotive designers pursue design improvements to minimize the impact of such collisions on the internal passengers. These design improvements often are located in a wide variety of components within the automobile. They may include a variety of features and functions from intrusion reduction to momentum absorbance.
One such category involves the use of energy seat impact response devices. These devices are utilized to protect passengers during collision. One example are safety mechanisms designed to move the headrest forward in order to engage the passenger's head during rear-impact scenarios. By actively engaging the passenger's head, momentum from the passenger's head can be reduced and thereby further insure the comfort and safety of the passenger during collision. Although a single incidence of seat based safety mechanisms has been described, a variety of such devices such as air bags, intrusion protection, and momentum reduction devices are contemplated.
Although safety improvement is an underlying goal of all such design objectives, it is understood that these considerations are not viewed alone and in a vacuum. Additional design constrains such as weight, cost, and manufacturability must also be considered in any successful design. Safety features as described commonly perform active operations during impact. These active operations require a trigger mechanism in order to actuate the impact response devices at an appropriate moment. Electronic triggering devices are highly adaptable but often involve undesirable expenses in design and integration. In addition, many triggering devices require complex integration into other vehicle modules such as the airbag control units. This involves complex design, manufacturing, and assembly procedures. It also can require system wide design integration impeding the implementation of impact response devices into existing platforms.
What would be highly desirable is to have a mechanical trigger mechanism for integration into an automotive seat assembly that did not require expensive electronic triggering devices. It would further be highly desirable to have such a trigger mechanism that could operate without complex integration into multiple vehicle modules. Finally, it would be beneficial for such a trigger mechanism to have the capacity to activate a plurality of impact response devices within the seat.